


by the time you’re here (i’ve already hid the body)

by far2late



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Alfred Pennyworth (mentioned), Angst, Arguing, Bruce Wayne (mentioned) - Freeform, Duke Thomas-centric, Hurt No Comfort, Mugging, Police, Police Brutality, Police Officer Dick Grayson, Police Procedural, Racism, hard discussions, no beta we die like robins, racial profiling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:08:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24599545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/far2late/pseuds/far2late
Summary: “The neighbourhood that the library was in was a smaller one, where most people could probably recognize anyone new that chanced upon their roads. Duke hadn’t noticed until the strange glances had started rolling in. It was a little unnerving, but the locals got used to him eventually, just passing over him like he was part of the community.“orduke, dick, and conversations about his profession.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Duke Thomas
Comments: 13
Kudos: 191





	by the time you’re here (i’ve already hid the body)

**Author's Note:**

> tw for racism and police brutality on a mild level, stay safe <3 further notes below

Duke knows that his superhero status can only go so far when it comes to daily life. 

He is well aware that he can’t use it to get out of things that would otherwise be avoided through flimsy excuses and a disregard for homework, as much as he wanted to whenever the workload got too much for a teenaged vigilante. 

When he has to move to the mansion with the Wayne’s, he thought it’d be at least a little bit easier to deal with something like this, and it was, thankfully. Homework is not chased after by anyone but Alfred and his gentle reminders in passing are enough to get him working on something he had been dreading for a while. 

One of the best places to work is the library, naturally. 

It’s not really for the silence, more so the opposite if Duke was being honest. He grew up in a home where things were constantly moving, never resting. His mother in the background usually working on something, father returning home from work and sitting up on the couch with the TV playing lethargically. There was always something going on, really. Their home didn’t allow silence because there was just… always something to do. 

The large halls of the manor were a stark contrast to his upbringing, one that wasn’t easy to get used to. The home was overwhelmingly large and was almost always silent. Save for Damian and Alfred often wandering the halls and busying themselves, it was too quiet. Cold and clinical, if he was being accurate. It felt… haunted. Unsafe. 

The library, as a contrast, was always buzzing quietly. There was a low din of conversation as he worked, and the white noise settled him down subconsciously. It was easier to focus  _ with  _ noise if that made any sense at all. Just another fact of life for Duke, like how the sky was blue and the grass was green. 

As a result, most of his free time was spent there. Not always doing his work, but enough for him to eventually start waving a small greeting to the librarian that sat behind the desk at the front. 

She reminded him a little bit of a grandmother, with how she acted. Duke thought she could have been a good one if she ever had a grandchild. Mrs. Denny was someone who had greeted him with a smile and asked about his day as he checked out books on world history and how-to-draw books that Duke treated himself to every now and then. 

Mrs. Denny was a lot of things, really. 

She had listened to him talk about his day and the books that he would be checking out, along with recommending some of her own. They were always about teenage superheroes trying to save the world or dystopian ones. He guessed that’s what she thought was in style for the more modern fiction trends. She had brought him food now and then when the library was closing and he was one of the only people left in the establishment. Mrs. Denny had a lot of nice nicknames, too. It really sealed the whole grandmother thing, even if the gray hair and wrinkled face hadn’t. 

The first time he had seen her outside of the library, it was late. He had stayed until closing time and had sat outside once he was kicked out for closing to finish up the chapter of a novel he had picked up. It was a climax in the story, and the cliffhanger from the previous chapter simply couldn’t wait for his commute home before being read. The streetlights had long since been on and provided a good halo of yellow for him to sit under and read for a while. 

Mrs. Denny stepped out as he shut his book, looking up with a startled look before it converted to a sheepish one. 

“Hey, Mrs. Denny,” Duke greeted awkwardly as she passed by him. She sent him a smile in return, the wrinkles on her face defined by the yellow glow from the lamp above him. He stood up as he tucked his book away, falling in step with her as he made his way to the same bus stop as her. It had gone to the richer part of the neighbourhood where the Wayne’s resided. 

If he wanted, he could probably get Alfred to pick him up straight from the library and take him home in a little over ten minutes, but the commute with public transit was familiar to Duke. He felt a stab of homesickness. 

“Are you liking your new book, dearie?” Mrs. Denny’s voiced her question, a little smile tugging up on his face as she did. 

“Yeah, Mrs. Denny. A whole bunch. I think the main character is a little dumb, though. Keeps getting distracted from the villain by all these little things to do. It’s kind of frustrating to read.” 

Mrs. Denny hummed a little, stepping into the bus stop to slowly take a seat on the bus seat, patting the space next to her for Duke to sit beside her. He slid in slowly, hands resting in his lap. 

“Sometimes,” She started, “A superhero might need a break from all the big bad things to remind themselves they’re someone under the mask.”

Duke had a feeling she wasn’t talking about the book. 

He sat in silence with her until her bus came, and moved out of the way so she could get on, lending her an arm to brace herself on as she made her way up to the bus. 

“Thanks,” He said suddenly as if his voice had suddenly come back to him. The librarian simply smiled at him before she boarded, waving through a half-tinted window covered in snow stains. 

  
  
  
  


The library was far, really. It was in Bludhaven, but it was the only one that had the homely feel that Duke had been craving. The others were more packed with people and the gloomy atmosphere that had come with living in Gotham. Bludhaven wasn’t any better, really, but the absence of the Joker in the city was glaringly obvious when compared to its sister city. 

The neighbourhood that the library was in was a smaller one, where most people could probably recognize anyone new that chanced upon their roads. Duke hadn’t noticed until the strange glances had started rolling in. It was a little unnerving, but the locals got used to him eventually, just passing over him like he was part of the community. 

Duke might as well have been, with how much he came around. He was sure that Bruce had noticed, but the man didn’t seem to have minded all that much. Maybe it was from a couple of decades of raising boys who did nothing but sneak out at night and fight crime with him. Or that Duke’s residence was simply temporary. He liked to think it was the first one, not wanting to think of his parents too much. 

It was well past 10 pm when the library had closed and Mrs. Denny had stepped out to walk to the bus stop with him. It was routine, really, at least for the nights that Duke had stayed till the library had closed. 

They had both walked, Mrs. Denny questioning about the book he had been reading this time around. It wasn’t about superheroes this time around, instead of a book about a teen who had moved to a new town and had to struggle their way through school while enquiring about the strange family. Duke joked that the family was like the Wayne’s, though not to Mrs. Denny. 

With a small yelp as they passed an alleyway, Mrs. Denny was yanked in with little regard for age midway through her sentence and Duke heard the sound of a gun cocking. He froze, eyes widening as he watched the man. 

“Gimme yer fucking wallet,” He snarled as Mrs. Denny fumbled for her wallet, hands shaking in panic. Duke took the chance to push the mugger, as he hadn’t noticed her companion from how dark it was, and punched him in the stomach before he could recover, the man doubling over. He didn’t look like a very experienced mugger, considering he was taken down so easily. For good measure, Duke kneed him in the face before turning to the librarian. 

“Can you call the police? We might need to stay for a statement,” Duke said, watching the woman call the police with shaky fingers as he propped the man up against the alleyway wall. When the call was made, he moved to wait outside it with Mrs. Denny across him, leaning against the wall to support her weight. Duke frowned at her form and moved across to sling an arm around her shoulders to hold her up before a voice cut through the still air. 

“Step away from her!” Came the voice, and a rush of relief filled Duke before confusion replaced it. He turned to the officer, seeing him hold a gun up aimed at… him?

“Sir, the mugger is in the alleyw-“ 

“I said,  _ step away from the woman. _ ” With the gun still trained on him and panic building in his chest, he leaned Mrs. Denny against the wall carefully and stepped away from her. 

“Hands up!” The cop shouted, Duke immediately complying with what he said. The cop spoke into his radio before moving forward and instructed Duke to face the wall. 

His face was slammed against the wall harshly, a small gasp of shock and pain escaping Duke as handcuffs slapped onto his wrists uncomfortably, the man twisted his arms down from where they were hovering by his head. He didn’t understand what was going on, he was only trying to help, he didn’t  _ understand _ . He was forced to slide down the wall, sitting on his knees as the brick dug uncomfortably into his skin. He was sure there would be bruises and scrapes from the force of the man keeping him pressed against the rough material. 

Duke moved his face to the side so his cheek was squished against the brick, hearing Mrs. Dennsky’s voice as she spoke to a second cop. He tried his luck at convincing the man to listen to him. “Sir, please, the mugger-“

“Shut up,” the cop growled, yanking him from the wall and marching him over to the car, forcing him into the backseat as Duke’s eyes widened. He heard sirens in the back and wondered if it was a better idea to just call the police and leave instead of waiting for them to show up. With how it was going, the second option was looking more viable. 

“Please, the mugger is in the alleyway, I was only trying to help. Mrs. Denny was there, she can tell you-“

“What did I say?” The cop ignored his protests, watching a second cop car pull up closer to the alleyway as the one he was in was driven off, Mrs. Denny left in the alleyway bathed in red and blue flashing lights. 

Everything was moving too fast for him. One moment he was in the car, and the second he was an interrogation room, waiting for something to happen. It was like he blinked and time passed in the half of a second it took to do so. 

Duke sat with his head hanging down, holding back tiny tears of frustration as he sat, leg bouncing impatiently. He didn’t  _ do  _ anything, he was the one who helped! There was no reason for him to be where he was right now, really. It wasn’t like he looked suspicious, either. Mrs. Denny was clearly okay with him where he was, she even moved an arm to help hoist herself up. She was okay with it, and Duke tried to explain that the mugger was in the alleyway, but he didn’t even get the chance. 

Duke looked up as a man entered the room, straightening up from where he was sitting before pressing down another wave of panic. This was a different police officer from before, he could handle this. He could explain himself and make sure they knew what was going on and that he was simply a bystander. 

The cop settled down on the seat next to him, fixating him with a strange sort of glance. It made Duke uncomfortable before he shook off the feeling. He could do this. He could explain. 

(There was a sneaking suspicion crawling in his skin that there was a reason that he had been stopped and he really didn’t want that to be true, so he ignored that niggling feeling.)

“Can you tell me what happened before we had shown up?” The cop asked, voice steely. It took Duke by surprise, but he did his best to ignore it. He took a deep breath before speaking, fighting to keep his voice even and calm. 

“Me and Mrs. Denny were walking home from the library after it closed, ‘cause she’s the librarian there and I usually stay till it’s closed. So we were on the way to the bus stop ‘cause our busses both stop at the same one but go different places an’ stuff. So we wouldn’t have been on the same bus if it came. On the way there, she was grabbed by some guy in an alleyway and he was tryin’ to mug her so I stopped him and helped her out of the alley and told her to call the police while we waited.”

The cop had nodded along as he had been speaking, and Duke was hopeful that they had just been confused, probably since he was new in the neighbourhood and-

“You said you stay until the library’s closed?” Duke frowned a bit at the question but nodded in confirmation. “Why?”

“It’s quiet then. And I usually get caught up studying and don’t notice that I have to go until Mrs. Denny tells me.” The cop nodded, writing something down. 

“And you and Mrs. Denny are friends? Or you know her from the library.”

Duke gulped a bit. “She’s just the librarian, I think of her more like a… nice grandparent?”

“And she’s never made you mad before? Or given you money?” The cop pressed. 

“Do you think  _ I  _ did it?” Duke asked, voice incredulous. 

“We have to keep our eyes open to every possibility.” The cop defended. 

“Mrs. Denny was there! She can tell you what happened! I wouldn’t- I wouldn’t  _ mug  _ her, I wouldn’t mug anyone. That’s the last thing I would do.” The cop scoffed a little, probably hoping it was quiet enough that Duke wouldn’t hear. 

“That’s what they say at first, and then after a bit more questioning, they end up confessing.” Duke was in disbelief at the cop’s attitude, speechless as he got up to leave the room, door slamming behind him. They had two witnesses with the same story and  _ still  _ thought that he was the culprit? It didn’t make  _ sense,  _ it was just ignoring evidence and did they even take the real mugger into custody? Or did they just assume he did it and taken him in instead? It was… it wasn’t  _ fair.  _

He was taken from the room and into a holding cell afterwards, sitting in the empty room with his legs pulled up to his chest and arms wrapped around him. He kept his face tucked stubbornly into his knees, ignoring how infantile it made him look. There were tears burning in his eyes and he did his best to blink them away without using his hands, eyes squeezing shut. 

“ _ Duke? _ ” 

Duke’s head snapped up at his name, recognizing the voice and seeing Dick Grayson himself making his way to his cell, standing outside it with his arms crossed. Duke could feel his heart groan in his chest quietly at the slight look of disappointment in his eyes. 

“What are you doing here, kid?” Dick asked quietly, watching Duke uncurl from where he was sitting, eyes locked on his feet as he spoke. 

“Was walking home with someone and stopped a mugging but they thought I did it.” At the look he got, that he couldn’t decipher if it was worry or anger, he continued hastily. “I didn’t do it, I swear, I-I wouldn’t just m-mug someone, not ever. I- you already know that-“

“Kid, it’s okay, it’s okay. Calm down, alright? I’ll go talk to them.” Dick interrupted, Duke’s mouth shut with a small click of his teeth. He nodded a little, drawing his knees up to his chest once more. With a small hint of embarrassment and an overload of confusion and frustration, he noticed the tears that had ended up tracking down his face. He scrubbed at his face harshly, inhaling sharply as he sniffled, crying quietly. 

By the time Dick had come back, he had his hood pulled up and had his cheek resting on his knees. The older man was arguing loudly with an officer, and through half-blurred eyes, he noted it was the one who had arrested him. 

“-He told you that he wasn’t the one who did it and that there was a mugger right by the alleyway! Why didn’t you go check and listen to him?” Dick seethed. 

“The circumstances were biased against him and he was suspicious. He looked to have the woman in a chokehold-“

“He told you what happened! You guys interrogated him and he told you what happened and he’s  _ still  _ in the holding cell! You didn’t even bother calling any of his emergency contacts,  _ which I am one of _ , and it’s been what? Five hours?”

The officer was starting to look properly chastised, the rest of the office avoiding the disruption. Duke could see the cop that had interrogated him hunched over at his desk and avoiding eye contact with either side of the argument. 

“Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to take my little brother  _ home. _ ” 

The cop nodded, looking as though he would run off the moment he opened the holding cell, which he did. Duke looked up as Dick walked in, hand on his shoulder and shaking him gently. Duke blinked open his eye, looking up at the man with red-rimmed eyes. 

“Let’s go home, yeah?” Dick asked softly. Duke nodded tiredly, rubbing at his eyes as he stood up with Dick’s help. He walked alongside him and out of the room, and then out of the police department. 

When they had sat in the car, it was quiet. Dick sat in the driver's seat for a moment, seething quietly as he rested his forehead against the driving wheel before he sat up. 

“Can- do we have to go back to the manor? It’s just- I’m really tired, it’s been a while-“ Duke mumbled, voice slightly awkward as he spoke. 

“No, yeah, it’s okay. We can go to my apartment,” Dick interrupted, waving off his worries. He starts the car and they continued in silence as the AC whirred. 

“Why… why do you work with them?” Duke asked, voice soft as he spoke. He saw Dick’s eyes flick over to him but he kept his eyes on the road as Duke leaned his head against the window. 

“Not like… them. Specifically, your police department. They’re good people, probably. I hope so, at least, y’know? But… why the police? It’s- I dunno. Do you know? I don’t know how to… how to explain.” Duke sighed quietly, eyes shut as he focused on Dick’s breathing. 

“You know if you hadn’t shown- shown up. I probably would’ve spent all night there. Maybe gotten convicted while I was there. The mugger would’ve been passed off as a homeless man and Mrs. Denny would be called senile. It’s… it’s not even something that I have to exaggerate, you know? It’s happened before. To other people, I guess. I have to research a lot of this stuff. When… when I moved to Wayne manor I was kind of hopeful. That, like, I wouldn’t have to deal with this stuff. Selfish, right?”

Duke chuckled humourlessly, tilting his head back to rest against the back of the headrest. 

“Just goes to show that they really see nothing but how black I am, huh? Nothing…  _ matters.  _ Nothing else matters to them. Not that I never had a  _ fucking  _ criminal record in my life or that the evidence was there. I was there, and I’m black, so nothing else matters, right?” He heard a small intake of breath from next to him, and he felt a little bad, his own frustration overcame that. 

“Life just sucks, huh? I guess that’s just the fucking… food chain or whatever.” They continued driving in silence as Duke wiped tears from his eyes and sniffled quietly in the tense air of the car. 

When they had finally reached Dick’s apartment, he stopped the car in the parking lot by the side of the building, sitting in silence for a moment. 

“I work with them. Because I want to…  _ stop  _ all that. I want to make sure that…” Dick swallowed quietly, a little frustrated. “That I can help people the way I helped you today. That they don’t have to stay and deal with the consequences of what happens.”

“That’s the thing, isn’t it? Your reach only goes so far, y’know? The whole Nightwing thing gives you juridstiction for decisions like that at night, not really at the department. It’s… one day. You’re going to have to sit back and watch what happened to me happen again. And you won’t… you can’t. Do anything about it. That type of reach only goes so far, you know. And it’s… you’re not invincible. You can’t-“ Duke cut himself off, swallowing back another bit of tears. “One day you’re gonna stand by and watch a cop kill someone like me. And it’s… you can’t  _ do  _ anything about it. It makes you like… complicit. With what happened, that you stood by and let it happen. Even though it wouldn’t like- I know  _ you  _ wouldn’t let it happen. But if you just… if you know they do that and you just stay there anyway then it’s… it’s just  _ shit,  _ you know?” 

Dick sat in place for a minute, swallowing quietly. 

“Yeah, I know. But… I have to  _ try.  _ I need to… I have to try.” Dick stated, blinking rapidly. 

Duke sighed quietly, blinking back a couple tears. “Let’s go inside, yeah? Been a long day.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> so, this fic has been festering in drafts for a while since the blow-up of the black lives matter movement in the past couple weeks. i absolutely did not make this fic with the intent to mock or make fun of what happens in real life, nor did i do it to romanticize it. i just wanted to vent my frustrations about the police where i could properly express myself. i am a poc, not black, but recognizable as one and it scares me to know that could happen to me or someone in my family. i guess i just wanted to have duke let dick know how these things affect people. i’m sorry if i offended anyone, but these are my thoughts 
> 
> and about the part dick says at the end? i don’t personally believe in that. i’m acab, personally, and don’t think there are any good cops, but dick believes otherwise in this story so that’s what he’ll say.


End file.
